Roxanne's Redemption (3 page)

“You’re welcome,” a
deep
masculine
voice replied.

Roxanne looked up and almost swallowed her tongue. The man was about six f
oo
t three
with
broad shoulders. He
was handsome and
wearing
a
black suit with a sage green dress shirt and a light green tie
.
His shoulder
-
length jet black hair was
tied back
.

Heat pooled between her legs as she wondered
how it would feel to run her fingers through his hair while she
kissed
him
silly.
Her
gaze flew to his
face
when she heard a low chuckle
;
his
emerald green eyes
held
amusement.
She
looked away quickly
and
,
as her cheeks heated, she thank
ed
God
that she had dark skin
so he couldn’t see her blush
.
The amusement she saw in his eyes was
probably because she was like
every
other
woman
, who no doubt drool
ed
whenever
t
he
y saw him
.

She
shook her head
.
N
o matter how sinful and tempting he looked—and he
did
—she
didn't want another relationship.
She pressed
the button for her floor and chewed on her lip as she waited for the elevator to arrive,
while
at the same time
try
ing
her best
to ignore the handsome hunk
standing next to
her. She ran from
the elevator
as it stopped
,
barely managing not to trip over her
own
feet as she hurried to get away from
a
temptation
she didn't need or want at the moment.

*
*
*
*

Sebastian Ferguson stood rooted in the elevator as he watched the
chocolate-
skinned
woman
run away
like
he was an axe murderer
.
Never in his thirty-four years had a woman
run
from him
.
H
e
wasn’t conceited but women
—
even the ones he wanted to leave him alone
—
usually
ran toward him.

When he
’d
caught her looking at him with desire
, his dick had gone from semi-
har
d to rock hard.
After
she
realized
he
’d
caught her
staring
,
she’
d looked away
quickly and ducked her head
,
and then
she
’d
looked everywhere but
at
him. He wasn’t complaining because
then
he was free
to
stare at her to his heart’s content
without her know
ing
it
.
He’d
hated
that the
skirt had the pleasure of hugging her shapely ass instead of him.

It was
only sheer
will and the panic he
saw in her expressive chestnut-
brown eyes when she unwillingly glance
d
at him that kept
Sebastian
from dragging her in
to
his
arms and kissing her senseless.
He was so deep in thought that he hadn’t notice
d
when the elevator picked up someone else until he heard, “Hello
,
Sebastian.”

He
cringed internally when he heard Ashley Woodland c
oo
his name.
Damn! He
couldn’t
deal with her and her invitations
anymore
. To make everything worse
,
she
’d
interrupt
ed
him
when he was
planning
ways
to
corner the woman
who
had run
from him and
to
ask her out before someone else
could
.

The only reason he wasn’t rude to
Ashley
right now
was
that
his cock had soften
ed
at the sound of her voice
,
and for that he was
thankful
.
Just
thinking of
getting
any
work done with a boner
had him
cringing
.

“Hello
,
Ms. Woodland
,” he replied.

“How many times do I have to tell you to call me Ashley?”
she asked.

More than I care to remember
.
“Sorry, I keep forgetting.”

She licked her lips then asked, “Would you like to come to my place
tonight
for dinner?”

Why
couldn’t
she take no for an answer and leave him alone
or
find somebody else to bother
?
God
forbid
,
h
e would never
wish
her on his worst enemy, but he was desperate.

“Sorry, I'm busy tonight.”

“Are you working late again or do you have a date?”

He raised a brow at
her angry tone
.
He
was
close
to tell
ing
her to mind her own business when the elevator
doors open
ed
, so instead
he
hurried
out
, keeping up the brisk pace
all the way to his office.

“Ashley cornered you aga
in?” Sebastian grimaced when
his
best friend and partner laughed
.

“It’s not funny
,
Nick
.
I'm getting tired of her and her invitations.”

“So
,
why don
't you take her up on her offer?
”

“Hell no, I’d rather
chew on nails
. How about you date her?” Sebastian asked.

He saw Nick flinch and swallowed
a
laugh. “Nope, I’d rather
be
celibate
,
and you know I’ve never said no to a woman before, but if Ashley is that woman
,
then Sebastian
,
my dear friend
,
you're on your own.”
Nick
left
Sebastian’s office
, no doubt
laughing
at
the
defeated look
Sebastian
couldn’t keep off
his face
.

*
*
*
*

Ashley
gritted her teeth and
balled
her hands
into fist
s
at her sides
as she stomped to
her office
.
Every
time she asked Sebastian if he wanted to go out
,
he always
found
some excuse
to
say no.
He
never responded to her come-ons like
other
men and she never saw him with a woman
.
She
knew she
was a
n
attractive woman
,
her
blonde hair was shoulder length, she was a size two, and she
’d
had her breast
s
done
after
her
second
boyfriend
had
commented that
,
if he
ha
dn't know
n
better
, upon first glance
,
he
wo
uld
ha
ve thought she was a boy.

In addition, she
always
dressed sex
il
y
for
work
so Sebastian could see what he was missing, but he never looked away from her blue eyes when
ever
t
he
y were
talking
,
and now he
’d just
r
u
n from the damn elevator
as if
she was contagious.

One of these days, Sebastian Ferguson, you will be mine,
she
promised herself.

Chapter T
hree

Roxanne pulled into her garage
,
shut the engine off
,
and slid out of the car then
walked toward the house when the garage closed
. Once inside the house she
set
the alarm and
went
to her bedroom. When she reached her bedroom, she stripped out of her clothes
and
dropped
them in
the hamper then stepped into the shower
.
A
s she
began
lathering up
,
she thought about her
day
.

After she ran from the elevator this morning
, her
manager
had
introduced her to some of her
new
co-workers then
showed her to her office
.
Roxanne
had dodged every personal question
they’d
asked
,
and
on
her way to lunch
,
she prayed she
woul
dn't run into her elevator companion again.
She was glad when she hadn’t.

A
t five
,
she’
d finished doing
last-
minute
things
,
and at five-thirty
,
she’
d shut down the computer, then got her things and practically ran from the building so she wouldn’t
run
into him again while she was running from him
.
Her
luck was like that sometimes. Roxanne shook her head at herself for running f
rom a man and rinse
d
off, stepped
out of the shower
,
wrapped a towel around her
body and went to her bedroom
.

*
*
*
*

Sebastian checked his watch and cursed under his breath. He couldn’t believe it was
already
nine o’clock.
I
f he’d realized
it was getting so late
,
he wouldn’t have started the last batch of paperwork. He shut down his computer, picked up his jacket and closed the door on his way out.
Immediately after reaching the parking lot, he
sigh
ed
and relaxed his stiff posture somewhat
when he didn't s
ee
Ashley
anywhere.